From my quick perusal of a What HiFi review, it looks as though the the Zen is just a DAC, and it has to be directly connected by usb to a computer not only to play the files on the computer, or to stream files from the computer program for something like Tidal, but it also gets it’s own power supply from the computer. I doubt it would be powered by the likes of an iPad, and it would be tethered to the iPad by a cable that has a mini Jack on one end and usb on the other—assuming such a cable exists.
The Node is both a streamer and a DAC. It offers Bluetooth. It can directly attach to a computer by usb but the preferred route is by Ethernet or WiFi to the rest of your network. You then use the BluOS app on your iPad to control it. The app rolls in Tidal and every other streaming service manageable
The Node is both a streamer and a DAC. It offers Bluetooth. It can directly attach to a computer by usb but the preferred route is by Ethernet or WiFi to the rest of your network. You then use the BluOS app on your iPad to control it. The app rolls in Tidal and every other streaming service manageable